GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 16~ ~ Luke 20:37-38~ ~ “But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”

From the book “We Will See God”—With the sermons of Charles Spurgeon and comments by Randy Alcorn

Charles Spurgeon:

Will I Be Myself in Heaven?

(Will we be ourselves in Heaven?   In this sermon, Spurgeon emphasizes the personal nature of heaven—that we will be more ourselves, not less, in Heaven.)

Luke 20:37-38:  “That the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.  Now He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to Him.”

God is not the God of the dead—that cannot be!  If Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob are reduced to nothing but a handful of ashes, God cannot be at this moment their God.

We cannot take a dead object to be our God; neither can Jehovah be a God of lifeless clay.  A living God is the God of living men; and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still alive.

God is not only the God of Abraham’s soul, but of Abraham as a whole—his body, soul, and spirit.  God is the God of Abraham’s body.  We are sure of that because the covenant seal (circumcision) was set upon the flesh of Abraham.  There is the confirming seal,  in his mortal body.  There was no seal set upon his soul, for the soul had life and could not see death.  But it was set upon his body, which would die, to make sure that even it would live.

The grave cannot hold any portion of those God has chosen:  eternal life is the portion of the whole man.  God is the God of our entire being—spirit, soul and body—and all live unto Him in their entirety.  The whole of the covenant shall be fulfilled to the whole of those with whom that covenant was made.

It is clear that they live PERSONALLY.  It is not said, “I am the God of the whole body of the saints in one mass.”  But “I am the God of  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  God will make His people to live individually.  My mother, my father, my child—each will personally exist.

Abraham is Abraham, Isaac is Isaac, and Jacob is Jacob.  The three patriarchs were not all melted into one common imaginary substance.  Neither was any altered so as to cease to be himself.  They are the same men they used to be.  All saints exist in their personalities, identities, distinctions, and idiosyncrasies.

What is more, the patriarchs are mentioned by their names; and so it is clear they are known:  They are not three anonymous bodies but they still are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

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Randy Alcorn:

Jesus called people by name in Heaven, including Lazarus in the present Heaven (Luke 16:25) and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the future heaven (Matthew 8:11).  A name denotes a distinct  identity.

They remain the same people—without the bad parts—forever

Spurgeon says, “They are what they were and more.  Abraham has about him everything that is Abrahamic.  He is Abraham still.”

You will be yourself.  Not someone who never before existed, but someone who has been transformed into a better person than you’ve ever been.

Even though  we may feel lost in God’s immensity, we ultimately find our identity when we are found in Him.  “Whoever loses their life for me will find it”  (Matthew 16:25)

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